The present invention provides a polymerizable material for making a polymeric article, the polymerizable material comprising: a water-soluble polyvinyl alcohol having crosslinkable groups; and a modifier in an amount sufficient to improve one or more physical properties of a polymeric article made from the polymerizable material, wherein the one or more physical properties are selected from the group consisting of stress at break (N/mm.sup.2), percentage of elongation at break, toughness or energy to break (Nmm), and susceptibility to fracture. The modifier is selected from the group consisting of nanoparticles having a hydrophilic surface, a copolymer having hydrophobic groups or units for imparting at least one desired physical property to said ophthalmic device and hydrophilic groups or units in an amount sufficient to render the copolymer miscible with the polyvinyl alcohol, and mixtures thereof. In addition, the present invention provides a polymeric article obtained by polymerization of a polymerizable material of the invention and also a method for modifying one or more physical properties of a hydrogel article obtained from the polymerization of a crosslinkable polymer.

Claim:

What is claimed is:

1. A polymerizable material for making an ophthalmic device comprising: (a) a water-soluble polyvinyl alcohol having crosslinkable groups; and (b) nanoparticles having ahydrophilic surface, wherein component (b) is presented in the polymerizable material in an amount sufficient to improve one or more physical properties of the ophthalmic device made from the polymerizable material, wherein the one or more physicalproperties are selected from the group consisting of stress at break (N/mm.sup.2), percentage of elongation at break, toughness or energy to break (Nmm), and susceptibility to fracture, wherein said water-soluble polyvinyl alcohol is a polyhydroxylcompound which has a weight average molecular weight of at least about 2000 and which comprises from about 0.5 to about 80%, based on the number of hydroxyl groups in the poly(vinyl alcohol), of units of the formula I, I and II, I and III, or I and IIand III ##STR00006## in which R is alkylene having up to 12 carbon atoms, R.sub.1 is hydrogen or lower alkyl, R.sub.2 is an olefinically unsaturated, electron-withdrawing, crosslinkable radical having up to 25 carbon atoms, and R.sub.3 is hydrogen, aC.sub.1-C.sub.6 alkyl group or a cycloalkyl group, ##STR00007## wherein R and R.sub.3 are as defined above, and R.sub.7 is a primary, secondary or tertiary amino group or a quaternary amino group of the formula N.sup.+(R').sub.3X.sup.-, in which each R',independently of the others, is hydrogen or a C.sub.1-C.sub.4 alkyl radical and X is HSO.sub.4.sup.-, F.sup.-, Cl.sup.-, Br.sup.-, I.sup.-, CH.sub.3 COO.sup.-, OH.sup.-, BF.sup.-, or H.sub.2PO.sub.4.sup.-, ##STR00008## in which R and R.sub.3 are asdefined above, and R.sub.8 is the radical of a monobasic, dibasic or tribasic, saturated or unsaturated, aliphatic or aromatic organic acid or sulfonic acid.

2. A polymerizable material of claim 1, wherein said water-soluble polyvinyl alcohol is a polyhydroxyl compound which has a molecular weight of at least about 2000 and which comprises from about 0.5 to about 80%, based on the number of hydroxylgroups in the poly(vinyl alcohol), of units of the formula I, wherein R.sub.2 is a radical of formula IV or formula V --CO--NH--(R.sub.5--NH--CO--O).sub.q--R.sub.6--O--CO--R.sub.4 (IV) --[CO--NH--(R.sub.5--NH--CO--O).sub.q--R.sub.6--O].sub.p--CO--R.sub-.4 (V) in which p and q, independently of one another, are zero or one, and R.sub.5 and R.sub.6, independently of one another, are lower alkylene having 2 to 8 carbon atoms, arylene having 6 to 12 carbon atoms, a saturated bivalent cycloaliphatic grouphaving 6 to 10 carbon atoms, arylenealkylene or alkylenearylene having 7 to 14 carbon atoms or arylenealkylenearylene having 13 to 16 carbon atoms, and in which R.sub.4 is an olefinically unsaturated copolymerizable radical having 2 to 24 carbone atoms,preferably having 2 to 8 carbon atoms, more preferably having 2 to 4 carbon atoms.